Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for controlling a position of a movable object on a viewing device in an aircraft cockpit, said system being configured to be actuated by an operator.
It in particular applies to the positioning of a cursor on the viewing displays positioned in the cockpit of the aircraft.
Description of the Related Art
Within the cockpit, such viewing displays allow pilots to interact with the airplane systems. This interaction is traditionally done using cursors, which are piloted using a dedicated control device of the mouse type.
Each pilot thus has access to a cursor control device (CCD), comprising a trackball that can be actuated by the pilot to move the cursor, as well as buttons allowing the pilot, once the cursor is positioned in the desired zone, to modify or insert values, or to make selections.
Rotating the trackball makes it possible to move the cursor on each of the displays. It also makes it possible to move the cursor from one display to another, but this mode of moving the cursor from one display to another is generally slow. The cursor control device is thus provided with a specific assignment lever making it possible to position the cursor directly in a selected display. When this assignment lever is activated, the cursor is positioned in a default position on the selected display.
In order to avoid hindering the viewing of the information on the displays, the cursor is not displayed if it is inactive. For example, if no action has been taken on the control device for a predetermined length of time, such as 30 seconds, the cursor disappears from the displays.
Two types of actions make it possible to cause the cursor to reappear: when the pilot again moves the trackball, the cursor reappears in its last position; furthermore, when the pilot assigns the cursor to one of the displays using the assignment lever, the cursor appears in the default position on the selected display. When the cursor reappears, it is temporarily surrounded by a halo so as to allow the pilot to locate it more quickly on the displays.
However, although the cursor is thus specifically identified when it is reactivated, it is not always easy for the pilot to find it immediately. Furthermore, the default position in which the cursor is positioned on a display may be remote from the zone of interest where the pilot wishes to work.
Furthermore, moving the cursor using the trackball is limited in terms of speed. Thus, the time the pilot spends locating the cursor or moving it on the display is lost time during which the pilot is not available to perform the tasks for which he is responsible. The use of the cursor being the favored method of interacting with the systems, this time may be significant, in particular over a long flight time.
Moreover, this method of controlling the position of the cursor does not work if the aircraft is equipped with a small number of large displays, or even a single display. In fact, the assignment command of the cursor on a specific display is then meaningless, and the path to be traveled by the cursor between two remote points of a single display it makes the entire concept of interaction not very viable during operational use.